Published on : Thursday, June 14, 2018
The Pan American Aviation Safety Summit, organized with IATA and ICAO, is one of the region’s most important aviation safety events, bringing together authorities, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, airports, air traffic controllers, flight schools, and associations to review safety statistics and trends.
“Events like this were denied to us for years, because Argentina was left out of the air sector growth that the region and the world experienced. Today, instead, we are protagonists of the growth of commercial aviation in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we have been chosen to gather all industry stakeholders to talk about what our priority has to be: security. Thank you ALTA for choosing us,” said Guillermo Dietrich, Minister of Transport of Argentina.
The aviation industry is steadily growing in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Over the last decade, the number of passengers transported doubled, reaching 281 million passengers in 2017 (7% of the global total), and the future is promising, hoping to reach more than 650 million air passengers in the region in 2035.
To achieve this growth in air traffic, safety is an essential issue and it is based on partnerships and collaboration among all industry stakeholders to offer increasingly safe and efficient air transport. The work that has been developed in the region, the determination of efficient regulations, and the acquisition of new technologies has resulted in a 88% reduction in the accident rate since 2008 and there is still great potential ahead.
“Safety is a team effort. As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of RASG-PA’s founding, we not only celebrate a decade of successful collaboration, we also take advantage of the date to reaffirm our commitment to the group to jointly ensure that the region meets the highest safety standards,” commented Carlos Cirilo, Regional Director Safety & Flight Operations Americas IATA.
As such, ALTA is joining forces with IATA to promote the implementation of the ISSA (IATA Standard Safety Assessment) Program by smaller aircraft to guarantee safety standards on all flights. In addition, ALTA will promote, in conjunction with the region’s governments, the inclusion of the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) as part of its operational approval processes for airlines (Aircraft Operators Certificate).
In addition to sharing statistics and projects, during the event attendees discussed the importance of investing and working on an adequate infrastructure to develop the industry and prevent fatalities, as well as working between airline security teams, manufacturers, authorities, and airports to execute efficient and timely measures.
Luis Felipe de Oliveira, ALTA’s Executive Director, commented: “In ALTA, we are very pleased with the attendance at the Safety Summit, with the value of the discussions and ideas presented, and, especially with the commitment of the different sectors of the industry to work on achieving a common goal: to mitigate air incidents and offer passengers the safest and most efficient means of air transport. We thank the partners and sponsors that made this event possible, the States and organizations, and the Ministry of Transportation of Argentina for hosting this conference in Buenos Aires and as a very important partner in the implementation of initiatives that raise safety standards in the industry.”
ALTA will continue working in the region to align the efforts of the industry and regulatory entities in order to define regional standards that promote safer, more efficient and sustainable air transport. ALTA will also continue to promote working groups that raise awareness of previous accidents and how to prevent and mitigate them through approved and supported safety procedures.
“The ALTA Safety Summit becomes even more relevant as a collaborative venue for the exchange of information on safety, it is a unique opportunity where we reaffirm the values of RASG-PA in terms of collaborative decision making, identification of data-based risk, and where regulators participate at the in conjunction with the industry. Today, after 10 years of operation of the RASG-PA, we celebrated the 9th Pan American Safety Summit, with greater motivation to continue positioning our region as a world leader in safety and taking vulnerabilities seriously, learn about them, and implement risk mitigations demanded by society. Good perception of safety in the public is a fundamental pillar for the continued growth of aviation and to increase connectivity both internally and worldwide,” said Oscar Quesada, ICAO South American Regional Deputy Director.